Take These Broken Wings
by Soaker
Summary: Soaker's never had friends before. What does she do when she's forced to?
1. Solitude

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by:Soaker

rating: PG, fine family entertainment

disclaimer: I don't own newsies. All the characters from the movie belong to the Disney company. All the other characters belong to themselves.  

Chapter One: Solitude

            "I'm so bored!" I thought to myself, while staring out the window. I wasn't allowed to have friends and I wasn't even allowed to have people know about me, so watching the people who walked past my house became a daily ritual. Well…I was allowed to have one friend, a girl named Elizabeth, whom I had always called "Bitsy". Her father was my daddy's partner. She was the only person my age that knew I existed. 

            Elizabeth and I never really got along, but since she was the only person who would talk to me, I had spent most of my youth with her. The year before, she had been extra pushy, and one day I just snapped. I hit her hard right across the back of her head, and she hadn't talked to me since. I smiled at the memory, and continued to stare out my window, at the short, female newsie selling papers on the corner. She had brown hair, and looked no taller than me. In fact, we looked a lot a like, same color hair, and same stature. I wished that I could be out there with her, instead of being locked in my house, as usual, waiting for my dad to come home from work, so that I could have some kind of company in the house. 

            My father had some sort of job for the government; I wasn't allowed to know any details. He'd get paranoid over it though, so I wasn't allowed to go to school, or have a tutor. We didn't even have a housekeeper or butler. We were the only people on the street without either. I'd learned that watching my neighbor's houses through my window. I didn't know anyone's name though. Sometimes I'd make up names when I was bored. My eyes wandered back to the newsie on the corner.

            I watched her sell papers for the next hour before getting bored with it. I walked into our library, and picked up my favorite book Pride and Prejudice. I was only a couple pages into the story when there was a knock on the door. Unsure of what to do, I cautiously walked down the hall to the front door, and looked out the window. It was the newsgirl!! Slowly, I opened the door.

            "I'm sorry to bug you, miss, but I saw you watching me this morning. I was wondering if you needed something," she said hesitantly. I noticed that she had finished selling. 

            "No, I, um, just had nothing else to do with my day," I answered, just as unsure as she seemed to be. 

            "That's so sad!" she exclaimed, not seeming hesitant anymore. "What's your name?"

            "Daphne. What's yours?" She hesitated a second before answering.

            "My name is Dawn." 

            "Well, my dad should be here soon. I'll see you later," I said, looking around, making sure he wasn't already coming. She nodded an "ok", and I shut the door as she walked down the front steps.

            No more than ten minutes later, Daddy came home. With him was his partner, Jonathan. They automatically walked into Daddy's office in the back of our giant house. I went back to the library, and continued reading Pride and Prejudice until it was time for me to start making dinner. After dinner, I went to bed. Thus ending my daily routine. The only thing that had ever changed in it was Dawn coming to the door.

            Over the next couple months, Dawn continued to visit me daily. We'd talk about everything; her crushes, and escapades as a newsie. We talked about the "days out" that daddy would let me have once a month. When I told her about slapping Elizabeth, she started calling me "Soaker", but I didn't know what she meant by that. She told me about the strike she'd participated in the month before, about the rally that she went to, and the speeches that were given there. 

            Dawn was quickly becoming my only friend, besides Elizabeth, but I guess she never really counted as a friend. I loved being able to talk to her, but wasn't used to it. One day, she asked me about my family. I told her that all I had was a daddy. I'd never known my mother, and daddy was too busy for me. In return, she told me about how she became a newsie.

            That day, after Dawn left, Jonathan came to the house without my daddy. He led me down to Daddy's office. He then sat me down on a chair. I looked around, having never been allowed in the office. Jonathan looked uncomfortable.

            "Daphne. Your father was killed today at work, and I'm willing to take you in. Your father left a will, so you'll get his money when you turn eighteen." He paused, taking a piece of paper out of his bag. "I know that it is a lot to think about. Here's something that he left for you. I'll give you until tonight to think about it."


	2. Tomorrow Starts Today

Chapter 2: Tomorrow Starts Today

            As soon as Jonathan had left the room, I went through Daddy's office. He had to have something in here for me. I searched for an hour and found nothing. Finally, I went back to the giant chair I had been sitting in. That's when I remembered the letter Jonathan had given me. I sat down, and started to read it.

            _Dear Daphne,_

_                        If you're reading this, then I must be gone. My last will and testament is     with our lawyer. I left everything to you, since your brother left…_

*Brother!? I have a brother?!* I slumped down in my chair. *My father is dead and I have a brother. Why didn't he tell me?*

            I had to get away from the house. I ran up to my room, and grabbed my life savings, three dollars and ninety seven cents. Then I ran out of the house, shutting the door behind me. The only thing I could think of was to find Dawn. The only problem was I didn't know where she was. 

            That night I stayed in an alley; hidden in the shadows, praying that no one would walk past. No one did. I must have fallen asleep, because the sunlight hit my face too quickly. It took me a second to remember where I was. When I did, I groaned.

            I exited the alley, and walked right into a couple of teenagers. They were too busy staring into each others eyes to realize that I'd bumped into them. The guy was talking to the girl; I couldn't tell what he was saying though, because his Swedish accent was too thick. 

            "Excuse me ma'am," I said to the female, hoping that I'd be able too understand her. 

            "Yes?" she answered. I sighed in relief, no accent.

            "Do you know where I can find a newsies lodging house?" I asked.

            "There's one right down the road, honey," she answered with a smile. I thanked her, and nodded to the guy with her. Then I took off in the direction she had pointed out to me. 

            Just as I got to the steps of the lodging house, however, a teenaged boy stopped me. I looked him over; he was tall, with red hair which was sticking out from under a cap. 

            "That lodging house is full," he simply said, taking a hold of my arm. 

            "Full? Where am I supposed to stay?" I thought out loud.

            "I'll take you to a place, Angel." Then he started walking down the street. I followed, as he still had my arm, wondering why a complete stranger would call me "Angel." I also wondered why I'd follow a complete stranger. It took me a minute to realize I had nothing else I could do.

            We walked for a long time; finally he stopped in front of a large building. There was a sign that read "Van Wyck Lodging House."

            "You can stay here." The mysterious boy said. I turned towards him to say thank you, but he was gone.

            Sighing, I walked up the steps, and opened the door. There was a woman at a desk. Talking to her was a girl. The girl turned and looked at me.

            "Hi! I'm Dragonfly. Welcome to the Van Wyck Lodging House. What's your name?" I thought for a second. 

            "Soaker."


	3. No Regrets

Chapter Three: No Regrets

            Dragonfly, a tall girl with black hair that curiously enough had red highlights, helped me sign in, and told me all the rules for staying at the lodging house. She also showed me to my room, which I'd be sharing with a girl named Spin. 

            I decided to search my new lodging, so I walked around the building, looking at the café and main rooms. I was pretty much just randomly walking down the halls. It seemed really hoity-toity, and was much nicer than I expected. I smiled at everyone who I passed, but still felt too shy to talk to any of them.

            That night, I met my roommate, Spin. Unsure of what to do, I asked her about life as a newsie. She offered to teach me to sell the next day, and she offered to introduce me to everyone. I squeaked, afraid of the idea of meeting so many people.

            "What's the matter?"

            "I-I've never talked to more than one person at a time before. I'm not used to meeting people. I've never really had friends before."

            "Never had friends!" She exclaimed.

            "I had Dawn. I was looking for her when I got here. I don't know how to find her though."

            "Dawn. Is she a factory worker?"

            "No, she's a newsie. She used to sell by my house."

            "So go back to your house to find her."

            "I can't. I don't know where I am, or how to find my house. I-I didn't go out much. And that boy got me here."

            "What boy?"

            "I don't know. He just showed up, brought me here, and disappeared." I said this while getting into bed. Spin went straight to sleep, but I laid there, staring at the ceiling for hours. I thought of my life, remembering the good and bad. And I realized something, that for the first time in my life, I was home.


	4. Wonderwall

Chapter 4: Wonderwall

            The next morning, Spin introduced me to everyone, as promised. Feeling kind of scared, I merely nodded at all of them. Dragonfly asked me how I liked the lodging house and I just smiled. 

            The surprise came when Spin introduced me to a guy by the name of Kid Blink. I squeaked and hid behind Spin, thanking God I was only 5'2. He gave me a weird look and walked towards the distributing office.

            "You didn't tell me there were guys at the lodging house!" I exclaimed.

            "He doesn't live at our lodging house. But there are guys here, is that a problem?"  Spin asked.  

            "Yes! That is a huge problem! The only guys I've talked to are my father, his partner, and that one guy who helped me yesterday. But that wasn't by choice. He grabbed my arm!"

            Spin and I then started selling the papers which she had bought for us. She taught me about improving the truth, and then went across the street to sell on her own. I looked over the papers and chose a headline, "Illegal immigrant to be deported after arrest". Seems a Mexican boy had broken into Pulitzer's mansion.

            "Alien breaks into the Pulitzer Mansion!" I screamed. A couple people came to buy papers. When they left I called out another improved line. "Foreigners take over Pulitzer Mansion!" A few more papers were sold. 

            "Angel." A male voice said from behind me. I turned around. It was the mysterious guy from the day before. I looked down and quietly mumbled a hello. "Did you like the lodge?" I lightly nodded. "How's selling?"

            "Fine."

            "Why aren't you talking to me, Angel?" He paused, waiting for me to answer, when I didn't he continued stating, "You talked to me yesterday."

            "I was upset yesterday," I mumbled.

            "Oh, so the beautiful angel does speak." I just blushed in response. He smiled at me, and disappeared down the street. After he'd left, Spin came back.  

            "Who was that?" She asked.     

            "The guy from yesterday." She merely nodded in reply, dropping the subject. 

            "You done selling yet? I'm hungry and it's about lunch time." 

            "I've got a few left, they'll be gone in a minute, hold on…" I said turning away. "Thousands of dollars stolen from Joseph Pulitzer! Reward for clues on the case!" In no time all my papers were sold. 

            "Come on, I'll take you to lunch. It's a long way though. We're going to Tibby's in Manhattan." 

            "Why Manhattan?"

            "Cause I promised Jack I'd talk to him today. I'm not sure what he wants to talk to me about though." 

            "Oh, ok." 

            We walked to the restaurant in silence. I still wasn't used to talking to people, and Spin was trying to figure out why the Manhattan Leader would want to talk to her. I didn't pay attention to where we were going, I just blindly followed my roommate, hoping that we'd happen to run into Dawn. Finally, she stopped. I looked at her, silently questioning her. 

            "We're here."

            "Oh." She opened the door, and I walked in. The restaurant was full of rowdy boys. Scared, I hid behind Spin. She yelled at them to be quiet, and amazingly there was silence. It only lasted a second before I heard a loud crash.

            "I'm so sorry!" A girl with short brown hair said to a boy with curly brown hair, who was now wearing his lunch. 

            "It's ok, Venus," he answered. "I didn't really want to eat my food anyway." She just blushed, and walked to the back room of the restaurant as everyone started talking again. Spin lead me to a booth a little bit away from all the boys. When Venus entered the main room again, she came up to us to take our order.

            "Heya, Spin. Your usual?" She asked, still blushing.

            "Of course. What happened Venus?"

            "I was clumsy, dropped my tray into David's lap. Now he'll never like me." She said. "The worst part is, I spilled a drink down my leg. Now my soaks are socked." She was so flustered she didn't even realize she'd messed up her words. Shaking her head, she seemed to notice me for the first time. "And what would you like honey?" 

            "Um…just a turkey sandwich and water please."


	5. Pleased to Meet You

Chapter 5: Pleased to meet you

          "I don't see why you go after Davey anyway. He's taken. You have other options; Preach, Kiwi, and even Oscar Delancey like you," Spin said to Venus when she came back with our food.

          "Preach is too..." she paused, searching for the right word, 

"passionate about religion. That's fine for him, but its just not right for me. He's actually taking Latin classes at night so he can understand the mass. Kiwi is…well he's Kiwi. And how could I like a Delancey? They tried to rape Soleil the other day. Davey's cute, mature, and smart," she continued, as a guy walked up behind her.

          "I never knew you thought I was all that," the guy said from behind her. I didn't know who it was, but I knew it wasn't Davey. Venus turned around, putting her hands on her hips.

          "What do you want Kiwi?" She asked bluntly. He just answered with a smile. She shook her head and walked to the backroom.

          After lunch, Spin went to talk to Jack. Kid Blink, the guy I'd been introduced to earlier, came to sit with me.

          "Heya, Soaker right?" I meekly nodded, unsure how to talk to a guy. "Everyone's leaving, do you want to go back to the lodging house with me?" He paused for a second. "Spin will know to look for you there." Once again I merely nodded answer. He smiled, a huge, happy smile, and got out of the booth. Unable to mistrust that smile, I quickly followed. When we'd left the restraunt, he tried talking to me.

          "So, how'd you get your nickname?"

          "Hit someone. Dawn said it would fit me." I whispered.

          "You hit someone!?" He exclaimed, surprised.

          "I have a temper," I replied, speaking a little bit louder this time, and smiling as well. He smiled again, shaking his head. We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we entered into the lodging house, there seemed to be twenty boys just waiting for us.

          "Soaker, can I introduce you to the guys?" Kid Blink asked. I squeaked and hid behind him. He turned around. "You'll have to meet them eventually." I nodded my consent, moving away from his shadow.

          "Her nickname should be Shadow not Soaker," a short Italian joked. I smiled slightly.

          "What, you don't think I could soak you?" I asked, speaking louder than I had with Kid Blink. The Italian back smiled at me.

          "Nah, I don't think you could. The names Racetrack." All the other boys introduced themselves as well. My mind swam with names; Mush, Jake, Boots, Itey, Snoddy, Dutchy, Preach, Skittery, Crutchy, Ten Pin, Swifty, Specs, Pie Eater, Kiwi, Bumlets, and Snipeshooter. I knew the names, but I didn't know who they belonged to; at least all but Racetrack and Kid Blink.

          "So…Blink, where'd you find the girl?" Race asked.

          "Tibby's. Spin brought her. This here is Spin's new roommate."

          "Oh, a Van Wyck girl. But how did you of all people end up with her?" I didn't know who this was. He was tall, had floppy black hair, and carried a stick with him.

          "Easy," I answered for Kid Blink, "He said, 'Wanna go to the lodge?' And I followed. Now, I'm sleepy, where can I take a nap?"

          Blink took me upstairs, and showed me to his bunk. He asked if it was ok for him to go back downstairs and I said that was fine. When he'd left, I got up, and walked away from the bed.


	6. Memory

Chapter 6: Memory

            I found myself quietly walking into the washroom. I was alone, so I was able to look at myself in the only full length mirror. My head swam with the sound of the mysterious boy's voice. "Angel" he called me, and "Beautiful."

            These were words I wasn't used to hearing. I was used to hearing "Ugly" and "Slut." My eyes filled with tears as I remembered what Jonathan had done to me whenever dad was away for business. The bruises I would get, the black eyes, the bloody noses. As scared as I was about living with strangers, it was better than dealing with Jonathan. 

            Lifting up my shirt, I stared at the last bruise on my stomache. Then I looked at the entirety of me. I wasn't "beautiful". I was too short, and my hair was an ugly shade of light brown. The only part of my face that I liked was my hazel eyes. Sighing, I slipped back into Blink's bed, before anyone noticed I was missing. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew Spin was waking me up to go back to Van Wyck. I asked the guys to look for Dawn, then left. 


	7. Magic Knight

Chapter 7: Magic Knight

            The next morning I decided to sell by myself. I bought my 40 papers, and walked out of the distribution alley. There was a headline about an attempt to kill the mayor, so I was quick to sell out. 

            I walked around the city for a while and surprisingly, as I had been in Queens, I  found myself in Central Park. I bought a pretzel from a vender for lunch, and sat down on a bench looking towards a beautiful lake. A few newsies I had met the day before said hello or waved as they passed by. Only Kid Blink stopped to talk.

            "Have a good day?"

            "Yeah, I sold out quick."

            "We all did. Some of us even bought double our usual amount." 

            "I should've." We talked a little longer, until Race came past.

            " Blink, I thought you were going to Medda's tonight. It's already 7:30," the short Italian said, looking at his pocket watch. 

            "See ya around, Soaker." The two of them left. I stayed where I was for a long time, thinking about all that had changed in the past three days.

            It was dark when I started to walk back to the lodging house. I was wondering why I hadn't seen the red-headed boy, but was more nervous about walking through the city so late at night. I jumped when I heard a sound, but it was only an owl hooting. Before I could regain my composer, a man suddenly appeared out of the shadows, almost like magic.

            "Who's there?!" I cried out.

            The man responded, "Just your daily Prophet." As he stepped closer, I saw it was the red-head. He handed me a newspaper, and was surprised to see that it was the next morning's addition. 

            "Where did you get this?" I asked, shocked. He just smiled, kissed my cheek, and was gone as quick as he appeared. More than just a little confused, I continued on to the lodging house. I looked over the newspaper as I walked.  A little scared about the attack of a young girl on the front page, I took the long way back. 


	8. Crash and Burn

Chapter 8: Crash and Burn

            For the fist time since I'd met him, I saw the red head first. It was the next day, and I was almost done selling my papers; the same paper that he had given me the night before, except for the headline about the attack in Manhattan. It was early, as I had all night to come up with improved headlines. I thanked the woman I was selling to before yelling out to him.

            "Prophet!" I called him the first thing that came to mind. He must have recognized my voice, because he turned around.

            "Heya, Angel," he said, coming over to me, smiling. 

            "Why do you call me that?" I asked.

            "Because you are one." I shook my head, not believing it. I called out another headline, and sold my last five papers. The boy, now christened "Prophet", then took my hand and led me through Queens to a small park.

            "Why do you say things that aren't true?" I asked.

            "When did I do that?"

            "I'm not an angel."

            "Why do you always put yourself down?" he asked, his blue eyes full of concern.

            "I'm just telling the truth, the same things that I've been told my whole life." My eyes filled with tears as I remembered the things that Jonathan had said to me. I looked up into Prophet's eyes for a split second, wondering what he was thinking, and saw something I'd never seen before: he cared for me.  I'd never told anyone before, but for some reason, I felt compelled to tell Prophet about my past.  I looked down at my hands and started talking. 

            Prophet and I sat in the park for hours, talking about everything that had happened to me. I told him about every time Jonathan called me ugly, every black eye I'd been given, every scar.

            The whole time we were talking, I continued staring at our hands, as he had taken mine in his.  His was callused with work, but still gentle. I couldn't look at Prophet, but I knew he was staring at me. My eyes bore into our hands. I tried not to cry, staring at the scar on my hand, knowing that I had more scars; on my body, and on my emotions. When I was done telling him everything that had happened to me, I finally looked up. His eyes locked with mine. 

            "Thank you," I whispered, getting up. I quickly kissed him on the cheek, and then left the park. I walked in the direction of the lodging house, staring at the sidewalk. 

            After finally arriving, I gave a quick hello to Kiwi, and Dragonfly, who were sitting in the lounge. Then I went up to my room.

            Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling, thinking about everything I had told Prophet that day. Things I hadn't been able to tell my father. Things I thought I'd never tell anyone. 


	9. Wheel of Fortune

Chapter 9: Wheel of Fortune  
  


            The next day I didn't sell as well. I'd been awake half the night before, thinking. I also didn't have a copy of the paper beforehand. 

            "I'll take one, Angel," a voice said from behind me. Smiling, I turned around to give Prophet a complimentary paper. Although it was awkward to see a guy who I'd opened up to the day before, I realized I was happy to see him. I was glad to finally have someone I could talk to about my past. My smile quickly faded when I noticed a familiar form coming towards me. I squeaked and hid behind Prophet, glad that he was so tall. I knew that had any of the Manhattan newsies been there, I would have been laughed at, again. 

            "What's the matter?"

            "J-J-Jonathan!" I cried. Prophet immediately grabbed my hand, and pulled me down the road. I dropped my remaining papers struggling to keep up with him. He pulled me through the city, until he found a wagon going towards Brooklyn. He climbed on the back, and I followed suit. We rode the wagon for a while, until he jumped off. When I did the same, I landed right on someone.

            "I'm so sorry!" I said, without looking at the person.

            "Soaker?" I recognized the voice.

            "Dawn!?" We hugged. She asked where I had been, and I explained about joining the newsies. No longer afraid of seeing Jonathan, since we were so far from Queens, the three of us went to dinner. Dawn explained to me that her nickname was Soleil, and that she was one of three female newsies in Brooklyn. She'd called herself Dawn because she thought I'd look down on someone with only a nickname.  I told Dawn all about Van Wyck, and she offered to sell papes with me the next day. I agreed, and then she went to meet with her friends at the docks. Prophet and I walked back towards Queens. 

            "Prophet? Why did you take me to Brooklyn today?" 

            "You needed to get away from Jonathan."

            "Yeah, but why Brooklyn? Why not Manhattan, that's where I usually see you." 

            "You were looking for someone." I thought about it for a minute, and then asked him another set of questions. For the first time, I was curious.

            "How did you get that newspaper the other night? And why wasn't the attack in the papes the next day? Why'd you give the paper to me?" By now, we were back at the lodging house.

            "I can't tell you where I got the paper. The attack wasn't in the papers, because it didn't happen. And it didn't happen because I gave you the paper." With that he disappeared down the street. I went inside to think about what he had said.

            It took a while for it to make any sense. I thought longest about his last sentence. "It didn't happen because I gave you the paper." It didn't happen because he gave the paper to me? That meant I was supposed to be attacked!


	10. Name

Chapter 10: Name

            I had another restless night. This time I was trying to figure out who would want to attack me. I must have fallen asleep eventually, because morning came far too soon. Spin shook me awake, and then left the room. After grumpily getting ready, I went outside to welcome the new day; with a groan. 

            "Not a morning person?" I looked up to see Dawn waiting for me, I just grunted a reply. She smiled and walked with me to the distribution office. We each got our papers then went to sell. 

            "Dawn, I was thinking. I asked newsies from all over the city to look for you. Why didn't they tell me that you were in Brooklyn?" I asked hours later, when we were done selling our papers.

            "They don't know me as Dawn. My mother was French, so when they asked my name the first time they met me I said 'Soleil'.  It means 'Sun'. No one ever knew me as any other name." 

            I thought back to when I first met Dragonfly, and realized I had done the same thing. I then thought about meeting Spin, Kid Blink, Prophet, and Venus. The name "Soleil" had seemed familiar to me. However, no matter how much I tried to remember why, I couldn't figure out why, so I stopped worrying about it. 

            We spent the whole day together. I told Soleil what had happened my first few days of being a newsie. She told me of how she'd gone to my house to talk one dayonly to find it was empty. She also told me about an attempted rape by a very drunk pair of Delancey Brothers. They'd tripped her while walking through an alley and Morris was holding her arms down. All she had to do was knee Oscar in the stomach and he fell over, surprisingly he took Morris down with him. This got him to let go. She stood up and ran back to the lodging house.

            "So how'd you meet Prophet?" Soleil asked as we walked back to the lodging house later that night. 

            "I'm not sure. He just found me."

            "That's his way. I was surprised he came to dinner with us last night. No one's seen him in a while. I wasn't surprised he didn't eat though." She stopped and smiled at me. "I'm glad you started calling him 'Prophet'. It's great to finally have something to call him." 

            We talked a bit longer, sitting on the curb outside the lodging house. Finally, she said she had to be heading back to Brooklyn. We hugged goodbye, and parted ways. I was about to enter the lodge when I noticed a girl sitting on the steps crying. I went over to the person, to see if I could help at all.

            "Are you ok?" I asked softly. The figure looked up, and I gasped. 


	11. A New Beginning

Author's Note: I know it's been a while, but I am finally updating. I wanted ya'll to realize that I haven't forgotten my stories, so I'm adding 2 new chapters. The next one will be up around the 20th, as I am going on vacation. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: A New Beginning

          "Bitsy?!" I shrieked, shocked. 

          "Daphne? Thank God! I was almost sure I was lost out here alone! Oh, why aren't I at home with Dad? Why aren't you at home with Dad!? Hell, why aren't you home anywhere? Where did you go?" She was rambling, and crying. It was really hard to understand her. "Where am I? How did you find me!"

          "Bits, slow down. Let me take you inside, and get us off of the street." I said. She was talking so loud that everyone was staring at us. She nodded her consent, and I ushered her into the lodging house. I noticed Dragonfly in the lobby talking with another lodger, Dream. I quickly broke into the conversation to tell her that Bits would be staying the night with me. She, in turn, told me that Spin was staying the night in Manhattan. Bits was crying silent tears as I led her to my room.

          "Daphne, it's so horrible! You were gone, and no one knew where you were! And then... then Dad came in and he started hitting me, yelling at me, 'Where is Daphne! Where are you hiding her?' And I didn't know what he was talking about, but he just kept hitting me, saying, 'I know you're hiding her, don't lie to me bitch.'" Her words were barely audible through her sobs. I opened my mouth to say something, but she continued. "And then he was on the phone this morning. He was so upset and speaking so loud that I could hear him in my room. He said something about being a double agent, but your dad had found out. And so... so..." Bits burst into a new wave of tears. "He killed your father! Dad killed your father! And now he wants you Daphne! He thinks your dad told you something before he died, and he's trying to find you so he can kill you too!"

          "Kill me?!" I shrieked. "What did I do?" Bits just shook her head, tears still cascading down her cheeks. I thought for a second, trying to be rational. "I should probably stay inside for a while, if he's looking for me. Do you know where he's looked?" 

          "He mentioned Brooklyn, that's all I know." For a minute there was silence. I sat, trying to remember where I had seen him the day before. Bits rolled up her sleeves and I saw all the bruises on her arms. Bruises that would have matched mine a couple months prior. I stared at them for a minute, shocked. He'd done this to me, but I never thought he'd be so cruel to his own flesh and blood. 

          "How did you get out?" I asked, cautiously.

          "When he went upstairs for a shower, I snuck out the back door. I was barely able to get down the road by the time he noticed I was gone. He chased after me, but I hopped on the back of a carriage. I jumped off a couple blocks away. I'd just given up on finding somewhere to go when you found me." 

          "Well, I did, and you'll be fine. The newsies are all like a giant family, and now you're part of it. We'll take care of you. Go to sleep, and I'll think up a plan." 

          "Thank you, Daphne."

          "Your welcome, Bits. Oh, and call me Soaker, that's how everyone knows me." She nodded, sniffing. She cried, silently, for a good half an hour, before finally falling asleep. 


	12. The Masterplan

Chapter 12: The Masterplan

          After Bits went to sleep, I went downstairs to tell Dragonfly what I'd learned. It was decided that Bits would go to Manhattan to stay, and neither of us would sell. Each day one other newsie would stay with each of us, and dinner would be delivered to the lodging houses.

          I spent three silent days in the lodging house, mainly reading. I was reminded of the years I'd spent trapped in my father's house. The only difference was the company I had. The first day Dragonfly stayed with me. We each read for a couple hours, then spent a lot of time talking about anything that popped into our heads. The second day Kiwi stayed with me. I finished my book while he slept until noon. When he finally woke up, we tried to carry on a conversation, but couldn't think of anything worthwhile to say. Instead, he taught me how to play poker. The third day, Dream, the girl I'd seen the other night, stayed with me. I'd never talked to her prior to that day, but was happy to find her to be a very sweet girl, and a good friend. 

          On the fourth day, I was surprised to find that Kid Blink had come from Manhattan to stay with me. When I woke up at 7, he was sitting propped against the door to my room, ready a copy of the days newspaper. 

          "Heya, Soaker! How are ya doing?" He greeted me, getting up from the spot where he had fallen when I opened the bedroom door.

          "I'm the best as can be expected, considering that I've been stuck here for three days. Add the fact that I've got someone who wants to kill me. I'm sure you can see how good I'm doing."   
          "Ah, you'll do fine. I promise, when your allowed out, I'll take you to Medda's to celebrate."

          "Medda's?" 

          "You've never heard of Medda Larkson? That settles it; I'll take you as soon as I can."

          "Speaking of settling, how is Bits settling into Manhattan?" 

          "Well, she definitely likes being the only girl. She flirts with all of us, but seems to like Mush the most. It's kind of sad because Boots really seems to like her. But she seems to be fitting in very well."

          "Good, I'm happy for her." I sighed. "Has anyone seen Jonathan at all?" Kid Blink shook his head as Dragonfly returned from her day selling. 

          "Hey Blink." He smiled a hello, before responding. 

          "Dfly, Race said he'd be coming to visit you tomorrow." She smiled before turning to me. 

          "Soleil was looking for you today. I told her to stop by here tonight."  
          "Thanks." 


End file.
